Inspired by early data that suggests the slave trade in Asia may have been comparable in size to that of the Atlantic world, this conference aims at moving beyond the Atlantic as a model of inquiry, and its attendant Eurocentric biases. We aim to investigate slavery and slave trading in Asia in all its historical depth and social, economic, political, and cultural complexity.

Bringing together specialists of colonial slave trading and of local bondage structures, this conference intends to provide a more complete picture of the historical dynamics of forced human transfers and trafficking in early modern Asia.